16 civilians dead in Afghanistan copter crash

Richard A. Oppel Jr., New York Times

Published
4:00 am PDT, Monday, July 20, 2009

Sixteen civilians were killed Sunday when a transport helicopter working for the NATO-led military coalition crashed as it tried to take off from the military base at Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, officials said. Five others were injured.

NATO officials in Kandahar ruled out insurgent fire as a factor, as the helicopter was well within the perimeter of the military base, crashing just after it took off more than a mile inside the camp, said Capt. Glen Parent of the Canadian army. "It was taking off, but for some reason the takeoff was not successful," said Parent, a spokesman for NATO forces. "We can confirm 100 percent that it was not due to insurgent fire."

Lt. Col. Paul Kolken, a spokesman for NATO's regional command in the south, said no military personnel were among the dead or injured in Sunday's crash.

It was not clear why the Russian agency and NATO had different casualty figures. Neither identified the victims' nationalities.

It was the second deadly crash of a civilian transport helicopter in southern Afghanistan in recent days. Last week, six Ukrainians were killed when a Russian-made, Moldovan-owned helicopter that had been contracted to work for NATO forces crashed in Helmand province. Moldovan authorities said it was brought down by insurgent fire.

Civilian contract helicopters are commonly used to ferry contractors and supplies from major bases to far-flung NATO and U.S. military outposts across Afghanistan.

In addition to the crash in Kandahar, a U.S. Army helicopter crash-landed Sunday near a military base in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. There were injuries but no fatalities, according to military officials, who said the crash was not caused by insurgent fire.

On Saturday, a U.S. F-15E fighter jet crashed in central Afghanistan, killing both crew members. The military said "hostile fire" was not a factor.